Do you use ritalin?

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I take a high dose of ritalin, and have since I was 13. It saved my life. If I had kept up what I was doing, I would be in jail or dead by now.

I was kicked out of four schools before I was 13, because I wouldnt sit still and was extremely violent towards anyone who pissed me off. I had no friends, just people who said they were my friend to get me to do stuff. I broke into peoples houses and stole things whenever I could. I was picked up by the police time and time again because of throwing stones at windows and threatening other kids with knives to get them to give me their stuff. By the time I was ten I was a gang prospect (they liked the fact I was good at stealing and had no morals) and was using illegal drugs. Social Services were going to send me to a home for criminal kids. I was so angry all the time and I was sure that I was just stupid and useless. I wanted to kill myself, because all I could see ahead of me was this life which rushed past me at a million miles an hour, that I couldnt grasp onto, that everyone else understood so instinctively and I was just too stupid to get.

Mum took me to a specialist in the city, and he finally diagnosed me with ADHD. I was given ritalin and my life just... changed. I am one of those lucky people who react really well to ritaln. Suddenly I could focus, I could understand. My social worker got me counselling as well, and suddenly I was able to go to school, make friends, have a life. The anger slowly dissapated. Im not saying my life is perfect now or I never got into trouble again (There was the period when I was selling the ritalin instead of taking it - bad plan) but it is much, much closer to normal.

It does make me a zombie sometimes if I dont eat enough before I take it. I sit there and dont care about anything. Also it sometimes mkes me sick, I sweat and throw up this sticky white goop. Its gross. But it really helped me.

Good for you Teddy!
It's nice to know things have turned around for you!


eta: I was a thief as a kid up through my early adult years.
Finally got busted big time but fortunately worked a deal and didn't go to prison.
It still took me a while after that to clean up my act.

I couldn't agree more. Your mileage *WILL* vary, so listen to your doctor first and then listen carefully to your body. Don't start a new medication while living alone, if you can avoid that - you may need people who care about you nearby as sanity checks when the new meds kick in.

My diagnosis is medium severity adult ADHD, and I started using Ritalin in 2007, after a lot of thought and quite a lot of worry (I know what too much alcohol and even too much caffeine can do to my brain and body, and my "too much" is less than what many people would even take notice of...)

Starting Ritalin (10 mg morning and 10 mg afternoon) was shocking. I had the worst 48 hour straight headache ever (and I am used to massive migraines!), and for about a week I walked around feeling that I had lost all my drive, all my motivation. Yet little by little it dawned on me that what I actually had lost was fear, not genuine motivation. I came to realize that since the age of four I had been scared 24/7, and that I had been so used to being afraid that my fear did not even register consciously.

Ritalin also took away some of my impatience and desperation - I became capable of tolerating longer stretches of boring and meaningless tasks, so it became possible to finish also the stupidest and the most badly taught compulsory courses of my bachelor's degree. I'm now two exams and two projects short of the degree, when in 2006 I had been desperate that I would never be able to stand some of those courses long enough to actually pass them. One of the things I cannot do when on Ritalin is drink more than two units of alcohol for longer than one week - if I start drinking every day, even moderately, I will become very easily irritable and after the first full week actually aggressive.

Even if the effects of Ritalin wore off in the long run, it will have given me the necessary pause from my anxieties and impulsivity that I have actually learned effective and efficient study and work habits (after the age of forty!). Those study and work habits I think will stay with me, regardless of whether I am on Ritalin or not in the future.

Just remember: each of us is a complex system of interacting biochemical and psychosocial processes - don't mess with your body chemistry too lightly, but don't categorically refuse the thought of medication, either.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

- Athena

I take Concerta, which is a timed-release version of the same thing, 18mg.

I just started back on Ritalin after being off it for over 20 years. All I have noticed so far is that I am nowhere near as tired as I was before. I was first on Prozac (misdiagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder). It made me tired and psychotic. I was then switched to Wellbutrin. It didn't do anything but make me tired and more nervous. I am currently on 10mg daily. I haven't really went out and tried it in public. Hoping for the best.

Nope, but I am on Dexedrine which is dextroamphetamine which is a stimulant like Ritalin/methylphenidate. I find Dexedrine really helps me calm down, focus and control my impulses and emotions better. 2 of my best friends were on Ritalin and had a horrible time with it. One ended up being allergic to it and become really aggressive( more than normal) and they other one become super skinny and paranoid neither one had ASD though (one has Mild Intellectual Disability and ADD and the other has FASD) but Ritalin can be a life saver for others, so my advice is make sure you are watched closely by a Doctor if you are on it or decide to go on it

I took it when I was a kid, and my parents said it made me even worse. I take Concerta now, extended release, at 54 mg. I know it's high, but it's helped improve my sensory awareness and made things better for me as well.

I take Ritalin 10mg, four times daily (equivalent to 36mg Concerta). It only lasts a few hours, but I'm so much better off taking it than not. It also helps me improve my sensory tolerance and spatial awareness.